The Living Portrait films were created to tell a nonlinear story about our athletes’ individuality. The intricate pieces of art were comprised of 90+ continuously looping GIFs, synchronized together in perfect harmony. All of the GIFs move at completely different speeds, but still mesh to form a seamless and cohesive scene. Layer upon layer of elements were added into the portrait to make it resemble a modern, moving Bosch painting. Every element in each of the portraits symbolizes a piece of our athletes’ lives that has helped them become the unique individuals that they are today.

The Living Portrait films were created using a variety of techniques. The backgrounds consist of matte paintings using 2D and 3D elements mixed with photo-realistic textures and lighting. Each athlete and individual piece of foreground action was shot against green screen on Phantom cameras, and each action was timed to create a seamless loop. Animated 3D elements, such as the police cars and Dale's throne, were created in Maya. All these elements were laid out in a 3D space in Nuke, where the camera move was added, creating one cohesive scene for each film.

Pictures of our portraits were shared all over social media. When we started the project we wanted to create something that people actually wanted to hang on their wall. And that’s exactly what they did. So in the end, not only did we create a message for Mountain Dew, we also created pieces of art that fans could treasure.